Advancing age is the biggest risk factor for development for the major life-threatening diseases in industrialized nations accounting for >90% of deaths. Alzheimer's dementia (AD) is among the most devastating. Currently approved therapies fail to slow progression of the disease, providing only modest improvements in memory. Recently reported work describes mechanistic studies of J147, a promising...

Patients with Alzheimer's disease vary in their ability to sustain cognitive abilities in the presence of brain pathology. A major open question is which brain mechanisms may support higher reserve capacity, i.e. relatively high cognitive performance at a given level of Alzheimer's pathology. Higher functional MRI-assessed functional connectivity of a hub in the left frontal cortex is a core candi...

Despite accruing evidence showing that positive emotions facilitate stress recovery, the neural basis for this effect remains unclear. To identify the underlying mechanism, we compared stress recovery for people reflecting on a stressor while in a positive emotional context with that for people in a neutral context. While BOLD data were being collected, participants (N = 43) performed a stress...

Empathy is crucial for successful interpersonal interactions, and it is impaired in many psychiatric and neurological disorders. Action-perception matching, or action simulation mechanisms, have been suggested to facilitate empathy by supporting the simulation of perceived experience in others. However, this remains unclear, and the involvement of the action simulation circuit in cognitive empathy...

Helminth infections in children are associated with impaired cognitive development, however the biological mechanisms for this remain unclear. Using a murine model of gastrointestinal helminth infection, we demonstrate that early-life exposure to helminths promotes local and systemic inflammatory responses and transient changes in the gastrointestinal microbiome. Behavioural and cognitive analyses...

Gastrointestinal microbiota and its organisms are related to the brain and affect brain functioning including memory and learning. In this study we hence investigated the effects of probiotics on memory and oxidative stress biomarkers in an experimental model of Alzheimer's disease. Sixty rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: Controls (C), control-probiotics (CP) that received probiotics for 8...

In humans, self-control is correlated with general intelligence; a new study finds that this correlation extends to chimpanzees as well. The new results highlight the cognitive bases of self-control and suggest a common evolutionary history for human and primate self-control.

The development, maturation, and maintenance of the mammalian nervous system rely on complex spatiotemporal patterns of gene expression. In neurons, this is achieved by the expression of differentially localized isoforms and specific sets of mRNA-binding proteins (mRBPs) that regulate RNA processing, mRNA trafficking, and local protein synthesis at remote sites within dendrites and axons. There is...

Prematurity is a known risk factor for later cognitive deficits. At present there are neither behavioral nor neurological tests available to detect those preterm infants who would benefit most from early interventions. Neurophysiologic methods, and more specifically, auditory event-related potentials (AERPs) are convenient tools to investigate early cognitive functioning. However, the capability o...

Neuroinflammation is a potential factor speculated to underlie Alzheimer's disease (AD) etiopathogenesis and progression. The overwhelming focus in this area of research to date has been on the chronic upregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines to understand how neuroinflammatory mechanisms contribute to neurodegeneration. Yet, it is important to understand the pleiotropic roles of these cytokines...

Cognitive impairment (CI) is frequent in patients with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) and could negatively affect family social and vocational activities. Detecting CI is clinically relevant, so the emerging question is the strategy for assessing cognition in MS.

The improvement of gait and mobility are major rehabilitation goals following lower extremity amputations. However, when living in the community many daily activities require the multitasking of motor and cognitive tasks. The dual-task paradigm can be used to evaluate the concurrent performance of mobility and cognitive tasks.

Heart failure (HF) incidence appears to increase among younger individuals, raising questions of how risk factors affect the younger population. We investigated the association of cognitive performance in late adolescence with long-term risk of early HF.

Latinos experience disparities in Alzheimer's disease (AD) knowledge. The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility of a 45-minute culturally-tailored AD knowledge presentation for professionals serving the Latino community and Latinos served by Latino community organizations.

This study aims to investigate the association between management and communication strategies and the presence of neuropsychiatric symptoms presented by elderly people with Alzheimer's disease. One hundred and thirty-four family caregivers answered a questionnaire with socio-demographic data and questions regarding the care context, the Small Communication Strategies Scale, the Dementia Managemen...

The cognitive behavioral model of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) suggests that cognitions and reduced activity level perpetuate the fatigue and impairment that individuals with CFS experience. The two empirical evaluations of this model resulted in conflicting findings. The current study examines the influence of case definition fulfillment on the applicability of this model to CFS.

Transitions between hospital and community are particularly challenging for vulnerable adults experiencing behavioural and psychological symptoms (BPSD) of dementia. Too often, miscommunication results in triggering a recurrence of disruptive behaviours leading to frustration of staff and families. As part of the implementation of Health Quality Ontario (HQO) Quality Standards, this project involv...

Along with a general decline in overall health, most chronic degenerative human diseases are inherently associated with increasing age. Age-associated cognitive impairments and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, are potentially debilitating conditions that lack viable options for treatment, resulting in a tremendous economic and societal cost. Most high-profi...